What is it if not a Rotrax ?

[Illaveago]

They used a red oxide primer or undercoat. I can see it at the top of the steerer tube on mine. Green and blue were original colours for a pro. What’s the size of your frame, centre of crank to top of seat tube lug. They came in quarter inch sizes i.e. 23.25.
Seat post was normally 27.00.

It is just over 22, possibly 22.25 .
I thought that it was primer at first but it only shows up in those areas . The rest of the painting was done straight over the previous colour .
It does look very much like a Falcon Pro ,but aren't the ends of the chain stays chopped off ?

 

[Poacher]

The four notches to the right on the bottom bracket were what I thought was the frame number . They are about 1/8 inch.

The other number only showed up in the sunlight .
I will re measure the gap between the dropouts .

Those notches suggest to me that someone once had difficulty removing the fixed cup.

 

[Illaveago]

So it is a bit of an Enigma ! It has beefy front forks with a very narrow gap between the dropouts .

 

[southcoast]

It is just over 22, possibly 22.25 .
I thought that it was primer at first but it only shows up in those areas . The rest of the painting was done straight over the previous colour .
It does look very much like a Falcon Pro ,but aren't the ends of the chain stays chopped off ?

Early Pros had rounded chain stays and seat stays at the rear dropout. Later ones were squared or Chopped off.
Unmatched dropouts is not unusual for a Falcon of this era, it seems they used whatever they had to hand.

 

[Illaveago]

Those notches suggest to me that someone once had difficulty removing the fixed cup.

They look too evenly spaced and more deliberate and not a glancing blow .

 

[Illaveago]

The forks are the original ones . I have been washing the paint off and the forks have undergone the same sequence of colours . They are light blue metallic underneath .

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

Did Rotrax build their own frames, or is it possible that the frame was built by someone like Falcon but badged and sold as a Rotrax? After all, I have an Ian May touring frame in 531ST, quite nicely built, but probably not actually by Ian May himself - as it hasn't got the correct frame number format. Even in the good old days of lugged steel, badge engineering of frames sourced wholesale from elsewhere in the trade appears to have been quite common practice.

 

[Illaveago]

Did Rotrax build their own frames, or is it possible that the frame was built by someone like Falcon but badged and sold as a Rotrax? After all, I have an Ian May touring frame in 531ST, quite nicely built, but probably not actually by Ian May himself - as it hasn't got the correct frame number format. Even in the good old days of lugged steel, badge engineering of frames sourced wholesale from elsewhere in the trade appears to have been quite common practice.

What I have read they made their own cycles and speedway bikes . There was a period in the ,60's when the company was sold and Witcomb Cycles of Kent were licenced to sell them IIRC.

 

[Illaveago]

I have been back on the thinners this afternoon. I have washed off some more of the blue paint on the crossbar and down tube. The crossbar is in the main body colour of blueish green metallic whereas the down tube has another large section of salmon pink .
So the frame would originally been light blueish green metallic with contrasting sections of salmon pink on the seat tube ,down tube and head tube . I think it would have been quite striking in that colour scheme . To me it seems like a classic style of paint scheme and push the date back towards early 70's or late 60's .

 

[midlife]

This sort of metallic green?

 

[Illaveago]

View attachment 553179

This sort of metallic green?

More blueish and possibly a bit lighter .If you put some salmon pink panels where the Falcon bits are you would more or less have it .
Oh ! I have forgotten to add that the chain stays do not have the indentations for the chain rings .

 

[southcoast]

No indentations on the chain stay on my pro and it has the same shape taper on the bottom bracket where it meets the chain stay.

This is the colour of the base coat on a Falcon steerer tube.

 

[Illaveago]

I agree that the Falcon Professional does appear to be the closest match . It has Falcon's lack of braze ons and the miss match in lugs could be due to them running out of the correct ones at a particular point .
I just saw a picture of a Falcon Professional Team bike from 83/84 which looks like a similar colour. The positioning of the pink sections does follow the way Falcon applied their stickers to the seat tube and down tube . It could explain the large 5 figure frame number .
Why the distance between the dropouts on the front forks of 3.25 inches now needs to be sorted out .

 

[rogerzilla]

That job is better than a Bullworker for expanding your chest.

 

[Illaveago]

No indentations on the chain stay on my pro and it has the same shape taper on the bottom bracket where it meets the chain stay.

This is the colour of the base coat on a Falcon steerer tube.

View attachment 553266

That is good to know ! I have been looking at loads of pictures studying frames checking to see which bikes don't have those indentations .
I've mentioned above that I have spotted a picture of an 83/83 Team Professional bike in a colour which looks similar .
What is the gap between the dropouts on your front forks ?